Bonds of a Lifetime
by SchaerMann30
Summary: The life, and death, of the Hero of Ferelden as seen through the eyes of her faithful Mabari. This tale will go from the past, if briefly, through the game's plot itself, and into the aftermath, all through the eyes of a dog looking back. Thanks, BioWare.
1. Prologue: In Dreams

**Prologue: In Dreams**

I remember the day I first saw her. I was but a puling babe, weak and wan. I wanted nothing more than a suckle and a nap, but she had badgered her own sire and mam into bringing her to the warm place where I lay for her first look. She was short, thin and covered in dirt and smells of the outside world. I was fascinated with her, as who in my position wouldn't be? Soon, things began to get muzzy as I finished suckling and burrowed in under both the warm, sweet-smelling straw and my mam's fore-paw, and dreams began, much like this one; dreams of the future, dreams of remembrance, all wrapped into a large, hazy ball, impossible to unravel.

She came the next day, and the next. Soon, I began to perk when I heard the light and stealthy pad of her feet, forewarned by the peculiar odor she emanated that it was her and not some other, strange and unwelcome visitor in the place I slept and lived in those young years. Well I recall the process by which we were bonded, life to life, until death claimed one of us. Never did either of us dream in those days... I am ahead of myself. I should tell of how it was in the beginning, not how it ended, for that is well-known now, even to we Mabari. This dream is about how it was at first, not how it ended years later; that dream is for another day.

For many cycles of the moon we ran through the stone halls of Elera Cousland's home, learning the smells of all within and without, the visitors, soldiers, merchants, elves, nobles, the cook (how I loved tormenting her, only to be rewarded for it later!), the priest (Elera and the priest never could seem to be in the same room for more than the span of time it took to sniff each others' behinds human-style before they were at each others' throats like rats over a rind of cheese), and most especially, when Elera's elder sibling brought home a mate and they begot offspring, I had to learn their scents most particularly. Elera insisted, and I was happy to oblige her in this. The pack defends it's own, after all.

Beyond that, I had fairly free roam of the place; Elera was often off on her own doing sneaky things with locks, doors and other humans' undergarments which I found quite amusing, but which seemed to upset people when it happened. Elera was never caught or attributed to it; it was hard on the elves, however, despite face-saving measures by Elera's sire. And yet, even with that, elves flocked to the stone halls of Elera's home, because they knew that Elera's father and family treated them well; better than nearly any other human who would use them, despite the occasionally high rate of elves who had to be turned away after an 'incident' which was never adequately explained.

Throughout it all, Elera grew adept at stealth, finessing locks, combat with human weapons, preferring 'bows' and especially 'blades', particularly those which grew from each fist like a steel tooth, which she used to great effect. She delighted in attacking both from the front, and the flanks and rear, where she could do far greater damage. Add to that her budding knowledge, picked up from who knew where, of brewing and using foul-smelling concoctions which had ill effects on those who were touched by weapons dipped in the gunk, and she was quite the minx.

Soon, though, we were grown, and times began to grow darker, though we were unaware just how dark things truly were until the day we met the human called "the Warden"...


	2. Chapter 1: The Coming Darkness

_Author's Note: Again, as always, the only items belonging to me in this tale are my ideas based upon the story of Dragon Age and a couple of names. The rest belongs to BioWare. Thanks, guys and gals. I'd like to thank a couple of special reviewers this time around: **VioletTheirin** and **Erynnar**, both of whom have been kind, helpful and supportive of me in this, my first endeavor into fan fiction, and my first major work in publication outside of minor one-shots on a private site._

**Chapter 1: The Coming Darkness**

The day "the Warden" arrived began almost like any other. I slept late in Elera's room, then roused when she woke to go about her day in somewhat of a foul mood. I could tell her elder sibling leaving for battle was preying on her mind. She knew somehow (possibly the shouting the previous night had given her the clue; I didn't doubt even a human could have missed it in that drafty, echoing stone) that a decision had been reached about her request to join him on the mission to the south, to a place the humans called "Ostagar" and a battle with something called "Darkspawn". Neither of us knew exactly what that meant; she knew only the legends, while I, the one who was given to exploring dark corners in search of trouble and excitement, knew even less.

She let me out of the room with a subdued smile, and I knew the sadness which lay in her heart. It troubled me, and I pressed my head against her leg and rubbed gently to comfort her. Poor thing; she mistook my actions for my being upset and insecure (humans never cease to amaze me; able to speak and use tools, yet completely incapable of understanding the simplest, most basic gestures, it seems) and she forced herself to throw off the melancholy and attend to "cheering me up". It worked in that she forgot that she was upset about something for a time, so it wasn't all bad, that misunderstanding; I suppose that there are more things about humans that we Mabari haven't learned yet which bear looking into further.

With my cheering of her done, we made our way out of the human pack's stone den and on toward our separate enjoyments; she planned on eating and spending the morning oiling the locks in the castle, and I had caught the scent the previous night of large rodents invading the "larder"; that bore my immediate attention. Plus, the chance to torment the cook and get some free nibbles was never something I could pass on when it was offered. On the way, however, two particular humans and their scents caught my interest at separate times.

The first human was a male called "Howe"; a vile, disgusting-smelling human. He smelled of rotten fish, rancid sweat, nerves, fear, anger, and the same sorts of concoctions which Elera brewed constantly, only far more potent and subtle, which made him a far more dangerous, unpredictable human than any in the castle realized. The humans with him were little better. The second human, a male called alternately "Duncan" or "the Warden", was different, hairier, larger, and his scent was... odd, at best. It was human, but cold, dark, and wholly deadly. He was a human to watch, undoubtedly, but I wouldn't wish to bite him, even inadvertently.

The two were greeted separately and at different times, and in different ways. "The Warden" was treated with respect, reverence and not a little awe; Howe, on the other paw, was treated, subtly, with disgust, fear, disdain, and in some cases, hatred. "The Warden" was shown to a visitor's den of his own well before Howe arrived, and the two didn't meet in my presence. Meanwhile, there were rodents to flush from their holes, and a cook to torment and receive a reward from for doing so. I knew a secret way into the larder which nobody else had discovered... until the rodents, it seemed.

I quietly padded into the hole, and began making a fuss, trying to attract the cook's attention so she could get Elera. She in turn could help with the rodent problem. I will tell you now, _that_ went over well; the cook seemed likely to have her head burst from yelling, and her face was so twisted from rage that it was a wonder she could see, much less direct people about with her screaming. Still, there was only a short time before Elera and a human male named Ser Gilmore of whom I heartily approved arrived. Together, we quickly devastated the rat incursion. Elera seemed slightly upset, but soon after, the chance encounter with a lovely elf and an arrangement for a nighttime rendezvous made her happier. The rest of the day passed happily, with Elera and I bidding her elder sibling farewell and her family a good night; an early night was indicated, what with the night's pleasures for Elera awaiting her, and the duties of the following day looming large in our minds. And so, we went back to Elera's private den, shared equally between she and I, and that night, with the elven female who'd made her so happy.

We went to sleep with pleasant thoughts, but awakened just a few hours later to a night of sheer terror and madness.


	3. Chapter 2: Blood On The Stone

Chapter 3: Blood on the Stone

Middle of the night, I woke to the scents of smoke and fire, blood and death, oiled steel and leather, and the faint sounds of clashing steel, screams of pain and stealthy padding just outside the closure to Elera's private den, where she slept deeply with the beautiful elf lass beside her, both of them undressed and unarmed, the elf with a leg and one arm thrown over Elera's body in her peaceful slumber. I truly hated waking their peace, but it was either that or their peace would extend into the Great Hunting Place in the Lands Beyond the Eye. So I stood up and took up a place at the door and began barking furiously, giving full throat to fury and the presence of deadly danger in the den. Elera threw a shoe at me for my temerity in waking her. I continued, though; the elf girl heeded the call, but was unwise enough to stand out in the open where she was a target for any with an eye or an ear (everyone knows humans don't have noses worth speaking of, and speaking of ears and humans is generally being complimentary to them out of respect for certain exceptional humans), and so she received a mass of pointed wooden sticks in her body, which killed her and made me angrier, as she'd made Elera so happy with her unexpected presence and sheer joy of being.

Elera busied herself dressing quickly for battle, while two men invaded the little den belonging to Elera's pack of she and I. I was the only thing standing between Elera, with one foot caught in her leather breeches, and the two men who stank of garlic, sweat, smoke, blood and too much brandy, and so I launched myself at the throat of one while Elera yanked on her pants with undue haste, tossed her leather tunic over her bare torso, and grabbed up her weapons just in time to block a dirty blow from the second fellow, who I couldn't be bothered with at the moment because the man I had my jaws locked in the throat of was raking my side with the point of a dagger, trying weakly to get a solid stab in. I tightened my jaws and shook him like a rat. Like a rat, when this happened, something in his neck went _crunch_, and he went slack. I wheeled about to see about helping Elera, and watched her kick her opponent low down, and as he bent over double wheezing, she took her blades and swiped them in opposite directions across the back of his neck, just under the back edge of the metal hat he was wearing.

More fighting awaited us outside, and then we joined with Elera's mother to fight through to escape and find her father. Unfortunately, my nose led me to her brother's den, and I scratched there, dismayed. Something had bled in there, and I was worried about my packmate, the little Owen who we were all so fond of, and who the humans had hopes for in the future. I was concerned that I had failed a packmate, and that weighed heavily on me. And soon, my concerns were made into reality when we entered and found my little packmate with the burning hair sprawled in a bloody heap like a ragdoll with the stuffing removed.

The rest of the escape is a simple blur for me, I fear; I know that we fought a lot of humans who didn't belong there, and that more packmates died with nothing I could do about it. However, my mind was blurred by the gigantic failure on my part to protect the young of the pack, no matter what, and blood of those who committed the act was only just in my thoughts; maybe it would abrogate my need to die because I failed to do the most important thing asked of me in life. Protecting the young is everything in the pack; without the young, the pack becomes a nothing without hope for living.

All I know is that I didn't die, and neither did Elera; "The Warden" saved us, though his reasons for doing so, and the danger we came into because of those reasons, were only clear much later.


End file.
